Overwhelmingly funded by Arab financial institutions, the highway will considerably cut distance between capital Tirana and Elbasan, the third most populated region of Albania, and a hub to the southeastern Albania
The Finance Ministry says the highway’s cost has dropped from an initial estimated USD 407 mln to USD 290 mln
TIRANA, Feb. 13 – Kuwait’s Copri Construction and Greece’s Aktor have joined to complete the Tirana-Elbasan highway by June 2013 when Albania holds the next general elections. The USD 170 mln deal for the construction of the remaining 25 kms of highway was signed this week with works scheduled to start immediately.
Overwhelmingly funded by Arab financial institutions such as the Islamic Development Bank, the Saudi Fund for Development, and the OPEC Fund for International Development, the road will considerably cut distance between capital Tirana and Elbasan, the third most populated region of Albania, and a hub to the southeastern Albania.
The first part of the new contract, worth USD 84 mln, includes a 13 km segment from suburban Sauk to Krraba at the entry of already under construction tunnel. The remaining part, worth USD 85 mln, includes the 11.7 Krraba tunnel-Elbasan segment.
Congratulating the two companies Transport Minister Sokol Olldashi said the winning bids by the two companies’ winning bids, had considerably lowered the highway’s initial highway cost.
The highway’s most difficult part, a double-bore tunnel, is already being built by Greece’s Aktor which in May 2011 officially started works to build a double-bore 2.3 km tunnel as part of a new highway linking Tirana to Elbasan.
“We are completely on track with the calendar of works, and with the agenda the company has based on the contract, the tunnel will probably be operational at the beginning of 2013, giving a solution to one of the key problems for the transport systems in the country,” Olldashi told reporters earlier.
Aktor, which is one of the largest construction companies in Greece and a member of Ellaktor Group, won the international tender after offering 83 million dollars to build the 2.3 km long tunnel, outbidding seven other international companies who submitted bids varying from 54 percent to 81 percent of the initial 150 million dollar price tag set by the Albanian government. The highway, which is expected to cut the distance to Elbasan from the current 48 kilometres to only 31 kilometres, will have four lanes and two tunnels, 2.3 and 2.1 km long each–saving passengers to Elbasan 40 minutes in travel time. It is considered the biggest infrastructural project of the Democratic Party-led government second consecutive term, after the Durres-Kukes-Morine highway linking Albania to Kosovo, which was fully completed in October 2010. Back in 2010, the Islamic Development Bank granted a $222.7 million (156 million Euros) loan for the highway construction while the Saudi Fund for Development also approved a USD 25 million soft loan.
OFID awards USD 20.4 mln
This week, the Albanian government signed what it said was the last of a series of credits for the Tirana-Elbasan highway. The USD 20.4 mln credit by OPEC Fund for International Development (OFID) is a 20-year soft loan at an annual interest rate of 3.3 percent. The Finance Ministry said the highway’s cost has dropped from an initial estimated USD 407 mln to USD 290 mln. The OFID loan will be used to carry out construction works in the third segment covering the tunnel exit-Elbasan part.
